Fanfic / Once More With Feeling (Crazy-88)

aka: Once More With Feeling

He had said that he had wished he could go back.
He had gone back.
He didn’t know if he had wanted to go back here. Or if Rei had simply misunderstood when he had used the indefinite pronoun “back”…
This life he would live might not be pleasant.
But it was not a lie.
And it was now his to live.
Not to exist.
To live.

Once More With Feeling is a Neon Genesis Evangelion Peggy Sue Fanfic by Crazy-88.

During Instrumentality, Shinji chooses to "go back". However, Lilith takes an entirely different meaning to his words and, rather than simply undoing Instrumentality, inserts a steel I-beam into Shinji's spine and sends him back to the very beginning of the canon story. Once Shinji realizes what has happened, he becomes determined to prevent all his past mistakes and avert the horrors he'd previously experienced. The writer devotes a lot of time to describing and developing the world (including a bunch of background details), the characters, their emotions and conflicts, to degrees not done in the canon story and greatly influenced by Shinji.

Once More With Feeling can be found in FF.net, SpaceBattles forum and StarDestroyer forums.

The fic was in a very long hiatus (due to a severe Writer's Block), making people fearing that it was a Dead Fic. However, in late 2011 the author posted a tiny tidbit of the next chapter to show that he was still working on it, and then, suddenly in July 2013 there was a full-chapter update, accompanied by much rejoicing. Since then it has gone dormant again. In August 2014, as updating another of his fics, he explained that he was 3/4 of the way of writing the next chapter.

A Code Geass fanfic and a Final Fantasy VII fanfic of the same name, with a similar Peggy Sue nature, also exist. This is not those fics.

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This fic provides examples of:

A-C

• Abusive Parents: Gendo treats Shinji and Rei like crap and doesn’t care about them at all (unlike his canon self who wanted to be a good father but didn’t know how to be one)
  Shinji: You know, on some level I should be surprised that you would threaten to have a fourteen year old Girl sent to her death if I didn't do exactly what you said… but I'm not.
  Fuyutsuki: Now Shinji, that's not what he-
  Shinji: Oh of course it is. You don't have any need to defend this man in front of me. Yesterday he paraded Rei out as the consequence of me defying him, putting her through hell just to blackmail me into Unit One. Every one of us knows she wouldn't have lasted five seconds in combat, but he didn't give a damn.
• Ace Pilot: After returning to the past, Shinji's excellent performance with his giant robot gets his co-workers impressed and shocked, since they did not expect him to be so good. However he considers Asuka a much better pilot and fighter than he could ever be, and when he meets for first time -again- he makes sure to praise her skills, knowing her self-confidence is very fragile.
• Accidental Pervert: In episode 9, Misato, Kaji, Shinji, Asuka, Touji and Kensuke were all cramped together in an narrow elevator. This led to Kaji and Touji's accidentally putting their hands where they didn't belong.
  "I should have anticipated this" Misato growled, closing her eyes for a second, then snapping them wide open again.
  "HEY! DON'T TOUCH ME!" Misato shouted as Asuka also let loose a shout of protest and horror.
  "I CAN'T HELP IT!" Kaji and Toji protested right back.
• Action Girl: Asuka and Rei are war mecha pilots and Misato is a soldier and army commander. The former two have fought and killed giant monsters together or separately.
• Alpha Bitch: Chihiro Tanaka acts like this, being the most beautiful girl in the school, having plenty of followers and slandering Shinji after being turned down by him.
• Always Someone Better: Ironically, Asuka and Shinji see each other as this. Shinji thinks Asuka is braver, more strong-willed and a better pilot than he will ever be. Asuka thinks Shinji is an excellent pilot who is mentally and emotionally stronger than her because he actually managed to move on from his mother's death. They also want to beat each other because they want to earn each other's respect.
• And Mission Control Rejoiced: In chapter 17, when Asuka kills Sandalphon and Rei manages to pull her out of the volcano, the whole command centre celebrated the pilots' victory and survival.
  "Shinji" a voice called out from above, and he turned, glancing at the highest tier in the command centre as the raucous celebrations continued unabated at the certain loss of two Evangelion's and their pilots turned around in less than a minute to the recovery of both alive
• Anger Born of Worry: Ritsuko notes that Misato is angry at her charges after the quad bike race because she was terrified of them getting hurt.
• Apologises a Lot: Asuka can’t it stand when someone does this. In chapter 10 she gets angry because Rei has been ordered to live in a hellhole. Rei apologises for it, and Asuka gets angrier since Rei is sorry for something that's not her fault.
  Asuka hissed her breath out from between her teeth. God, she hated people who apologized for everything, even when it wasn't their fault!
• Archnemesis Dad: Shinji considers Gendo one of his primary enemies. Considering they have mutually exclusive goals, and what Gendo did in the original timeline, it's completely reasonable.
• Arc Words: "I am, I." This is thought by various characters whose ways of thinking are changed for the better by Shinji, namely Rei and Asuka.
• Aren't You Going to Ravish Me?: During the school dance Kaji passes on a chance to flirt with Misato. Amusingly he notes that she is actually disappointed and upset because he has not tried to grab her and kiss her into submission.
• Assimilation Plot:
  • When Shinji meets Kaji he reveals SEELE and Gendo's real goal is killing all humans and merge their souls to create a new god after defeating the Angels.
  • Also, as a side-effect from Instrumentality, Shinji went back to the past with not only his own knowledge and memories, but also those of the people around him. For example, he has Asuka's memories of when her mother went crazy, knows the rather intimate (and private) details of Kaji and Misato's history (and a couple things that Kaji never told anyone), and full knowledge about the true events of the Second Impact.
• The Atoner: Neither Misato nor Hikari understand why Shinji is so determined to and obsessed with making everyone happy. They do not know that Shinji feels immensely guilty and is trying to make amends because in the original timeline he left Rei alone because she "scared" him, let Misato die because he was wrapped up in his grief, defiled Asuka and abandoned her—which led to her very bloody and gory death—and wished that everyone died because he thought nobody loved him.
• Attention Whore: Asuka is a very big attention-seeker. Shinji does not mind, though, since he now knows why she craves attention, and he actually helps her to stand out as he makes clear he will always care about her, not matter what.
• Aw, Look! They Really Do Love Each Other: Shinji and Asuka trade barbs the whole time, but Shinji is fully committed to Asuka, and the red-haired girl shows that she cares for him, too. When they danced together she dropped her mask for a while, and when he was having a nightmare she tried to reassure him and comfort him.
• Bad Boss: Gendo regards his employees as chess pieces, and he isn’t above of coercing them, threatening them, blackmailing them, manipulating them or risking their lives.
• Batman Gambit:
  • Shortly after meeting Asuka, Shinji mentioned his mother was dead, expecting that Asuka was prompted to ask him about it since she was also an orphan.
  • Kaji came up with a plan to help Shinji to go with Asuka to the school dance. His plot consisted in Shinji making several apparently innocent but carefully calculated remarks that, according to his knowledge of Asuka's personality, would prompt her to ask Shinji out.
• Battle Couple: Asuka and Shinji started on the path to becoming one as of battling the Sixth and Seventh.
  Not that Shinji could begrudge Asuka her grand entrance. Perhaps she hadn't exactly covered herself in glory today…but by the same token; he couldn't have done it without her. Not for the first time, he smiled slightly at that thought, working side by side with her again; Asuka the burning sword, Asuka the raging, unquenchable firestorm-
• Belligerent Sexual Tension: Asuka/Shinji. It was there in the series, but it has increased due to Shinji having better insight into Asuka's feelings and emotions. Amusingly, they actually enjoy trading barbs back and forth, Shinji because of his affection for Asuka, Asuka because she believes to have found a worthy rival in Shinji.
• Beneath the Mask: In episode 5, Shinji thinks about Asuka’s abrasive and obnoxious behavior and how it was all a lie to hide her real self.
  Then the Second Child had arrived, bringing with her conflict, friction and more then a few painful contusions to his head as she continually let him know exactly what she thought of him as an Eva Pilot, a man and a human.
  All of it a giant lie to shield the four year old girl desperately hiding deep behind the moats, minefields and electrified fences she had placed around her heart.
• Benevolent Boss: Unlike Gendo, Sub-commander Fuyutsuki tries to be fair and is pretty reasonable. Shinji and Asuka go to him when they need something because they know that he’ll hear them out at least. For that matter, he didn’t want to handle the task of reprimanding the pilots after their quad bike race, but he did anyway because he knew that Gendo would be harsher.
• The Berserker: As soon as Shinji came face to face with Sachiel he charged savagely and furiously, killing it in less than one minute. He fought so brutally he made NERV believe that it was Eva-01 that was berserk.
• Beta Couple:
  • Hikari and Touji.
  • Rei and Kensuke.
• Beware the Nice Ones: Shinji is usually pretty calm and even glum. But when he faced Sachiel again and thought of everything happening again if he did nothing, he went berserk.
• Big Brother Instinct: Shinji returns to the past knowing that Rei is his sister and he instantly becomes very protective from her. When people ask him about it, he tells that Rei is like a sister he did not know he had (which is actually accurate).
• Big Damn Heroes: In chapter 17 Asuka fought Sandalphon inside a volcano and killed it, but she was sinking to her death... until Rei leapt inside the ocean of burning magma, dove towards her and rescued her.
• Big Ego, Hidden Depths: During Third Impact, Shinji saw Asuka’s mind and memories, and understood what she had built an arrogant, boastful, loud persona to hide her real, frightened and traumatized self, and her feelings for him.
• Blood Knight: Asuka lives for fighting... and Shinji is trying to show to her that she has more reasons to live. Likewise her battle-lust has almost gotten her into trouble several times (such like when she rushed Israfel and almost got bludgeoned when it unexpectedly split into two halves).
• Bonding over Missing Parents: After defeating Gaghiel, Asuka asks Shinji about his mother. He answers that she’s dead, and Asuka feels guilty and asks how she died. When Shinji tells her the story, she realizes that she empathizes with him.
  Asuka took a long, deep breath as he leapt up, dashing away the flood of emotions that Shinji's effortless penetration of the barriers she had erected had brought up. His story of how he had lost his mother was so similar, the skeptical, College educated part of her mind immediacy denied the possibility of a pure coincidence, but she simply didn't know what to think… except that perhaps Shinji Ikari might not be the stuck up, show off jerk she had thought he was…
• Bond One-Liner: After defeating Shamshel, Shinji internally muses that one of the advantages of time travel is the ability to use all the quips he came up with too late.
  Anyone for fried squid?
• Break the Haughty: Deconstructed. Shortly after meeting Asuka for first time -again-, he feels tempted to bring her down a notch... but he will do not it, not matter how overbearing she may be, because he has seen what would happen if her pride was shattered, and he has absolutely no desire of seeing it happening ever again.
• Bring My Red Jacket: Shinji often reminds what Asuka -who always wore red- got worse wounds than Rei or himself during the battles, and she got killed in the most gruesome, bloodiest way.
• Broken Ace:
  • Shinji comes across as The Ace and a Robeast-killing machine to the rest of the characters, but deep down he's fighting hard to keep himself from falling into old habits; add to that the massive amount of guilt and self-loathing he feels towards his actions in the original timeline.
  • Asuka seems brave, strong-willed and self-assured on top of being an excellent pilot, but she is barely holding herself together (that is what you have when you are a Tetsuya Tsurugi Expy). Shinji is aware of this and is determined to prevent her from falling apart.
• Broken Bird:
  • After going through the Angel War and the end of the world, Shinji is trying to grow a spine and be more determined and braver to not let his second chance go to waste.
  • As she is arguing with Asuka about the latter's desire to go to Okinawa, Misato reminds herself Asuka suffered terribly and lost a lot since she was three, but she always tried to become stronger and more determined.
  • After fighting Sandalphon Misato tells Asuka about her childhood, her troubles with her own father and how she tried to overcome it.
• Broken Hero: Shinji has suffered terribly, lost his mother, his family, seen literally everyone dying… but he tries to be optimistic and upbeat because being sad and depressed the whole time got him precisely nowhere the last time around.
• Brother–Sister Incest: Defied. Shinji has decided that he will romantically pursue Asuka and treat Rei like a sister this time around. He still has to remind himself that Rei is his half-sister sometimes, though, since despite loving her like a sibling, he still finds her physically attractive.
• Calling the Old Man Out: Shinji calls his father out twice:
  • The first time happened in the Eva cages, before his first battle. When Gendo said "It's been a long while", Shinji replied "Not long enough". That was only the beginning.
  • The second time happened after the battle, when Shinji wanted to discuss the terms of his job:
    Gendo:: You are not indispensable. If you will not pilot the Evangelion, Rei will do so instead.
    Shinji: You know, on some level I should be surprised that you would threaten to have a fourteen year old Girl sent to her death if I didn’t do exactly what you said… but I’m not.
    Fuyutsuki: Now Shinji, that’s not what he-
    Shinji: Oh of course it is. You don’t have any need to defend this man in front of me. Yesterday he paraded Rei out as the consequence of me defying him, putting her through hell just to blackmail me into Unit One. Every one of us knows she wouldn’t have lasted five seconds in combat, but he didn’t give a damn.
• Canon Immigrant: Someone asked the author if Mana Kirishima would show up. He answered: "Who is Mana Kirishima?". After looking for information about her, he stated she would show up, but nobody better count on it being more than one scene or her role being big.
• Can't Act Perverted Toward a Love Interest: Played with. As Kaji's feelings for Misato begin to resurface, he stops coming on to her. However, this is because he knows about her collapse in the original timeline, and doesn't want to risk it happening again if he dies.
• Can't Live with Them, Can't Live Without Them: While Shinji sleeps for first time -again- in Misato's apartment, he recalls that sometimes he begged for someone -anyone- getting Asuka out of there... and now he feels terribly alone without her, he misses her and he needs her.
  Sighing contently, he dried off and changed into a t-shirt and shorts before brushing his teeth, switching off the light and walking down the dark corridor to his 'lovely suite'…then stopping as his gaze fell on the open door to the empty room, just down from his own.
  God he missed Asuka.
  It was almost funny in a way. How many times he had begged someone –anyone- to get her out of this house.
• Cannot Spit It Out: There are two things Shinji can't spit out to Asuka: his feelings towards her (because he is certain of she'll run for the hills if he confesses too soon); and the bit about him being a time-traveler and being awfully sorry for all that he did and did not do to her (because her life and safety depends on him keeping his mouth closed).
• Cassandra Truth: Fully knowing how it went the previous time, Shinji tries to point out the obvious risks in the mission for capturing the 8th Angel. This prompts Asuka (who was mad at him at the time for unrelated reasons) to laugh in his face and go along with it anyway. Of course, when the mission goes awry the way he predicted and Asuka nearly ends up killed as a result, she feels guilty for dismissing him so lightly.
• Chekhov's Gun: Shinji returns to the past carrying Misato's cross pendant with him. He briefly considers throwing it away to avoid awkward questions but he decides to hide it in a safe place. Many chapters later he reveals where he hid Misato's pendant to Kaji. Kaji gets the trinket analyzed and it proves conclusively that Shinji is indeed a time-traveller.
• Clingy Jealous Girl:
  • According Asuka, Shinji is her friend... but if some girl tries to get her hands on him, Asuka will chew her out.
  • Rei does not appreciate either her female schoolmates' obsession with Shinji.
• Character Development: The main characters undergo large or subtle changes: Shinji forced herself to mature and grew a spine to try avert the end of the world; Rei learns to express her emotions openly and tries to have friends; Asuka gradually opens up to other people; even Misato is cutting down on beer due to Shinji’s subtle influence.
  Glancing across at Shinji as she reflected on what he had just so genuinely and freely offered to Asuka, Misato had an uncanny feeling that if this had been the Asuka who had arrived in Japan a few months ago, she would have gleefully jumped at his offer with both hands and barely a second thought. Yet now, when given the –apparent- choice of going, but going without Shinji or Rei...
• Chef of Iron: According to Asuka, Shinji knows how to cook well, and his piloting skills almost match hers.
• The Chessmaster:
  • Gendo and SEELE of course, but in this fic they are joined (and opposed) by Original character Major General Shigeru Ishiba, the Director of the Japanese Defense Agency (Intelligence).
    The UN, formerly a simple world forum with delusions of power was, in half a decade turned into a powerful body with delusions that it was a world forum as SEELE moved the pieces on its chess board patiently, taking control behind the scenes to divert the resources they needed to GEHIRN and then NERV and the Human Instrumentality Project.
  • Shinji is trying to become one, too. He is trying to outmaneuvering Gendo and SEELE using knowledge what they do not know he has. Time will tell if he is successful.
    • Early impressions don't bode well; Shinji helping to bond the Children together gives Gendo more levers to pull on, and mere moments after first meeting Shinji Keel discovered that the pilot knew far more than he should.
    • After the aforementioned meeting, Kaji outright tells Shinji to leave Gendo and SEELE to him and his colleagues, as attempting to deal with them himself is likely to end up in disaster for him, and to focus on his most important duty: piloting the EVA and defeating the Angels to prevent them from causing the Third Impact.
• Childhood Friend Romance: A NERV officer reveals Shinji that he and Asuka had met for first time when they were toddlers... and they already fought back then. Shinji finds it both amusingly ironic and disturbing. Asuka finds it hilarious.
• Child Soldiers: Several characters like Kaji highlight that NERV is using kids to fight giant alien monsters, and the Eva pilots have an awful deal, but unfortunately the survival of mankind demands sacrifices. Even so, Shinji is understandably bitter about it.
  Shinji: You are asking a fourteen year old child to put his life on the line, going into combat against things that tear through divisions of crack troops.
• Chronic Hero Syndrome: Shinji feels so guilty for letting everyone die in the original timeline than back in the past he spends the whole time trying to help other people. It gets so bad that Misato has to tell him stopping that "everyone must be happy" mindset and thinking a little of himself, too.
• Combat Pragmatist: Before battling Israfel, Asuka mutters "Two against one is hardly a fair fight." Misato sharply informs her the last thing she wants to give the Angels is a fair fight. Shinji is not particularly concerned with fighting fairly either (and in fact he has a quite the unfair advantage over the enemy, which he exploits wantonly).
• Comeback Tomorrow: At one point, Shinji muses that an underrated benefit of time travel is being able to use the quips you thought of too late.
• Conveniently an Orphan: Shinji and Asuka both are orphans and Evangelion pilots. When Shinji tells her about his mother's death, Asuka finds the similarities suspicious (and with good reason).
• Cooldown Hug: Shinji did to this to Asuka unawarely (or rather, Asuka thought he was unaware. In a nutshell, she was suffering of nightmares, and right like in the original series, she slept with him. It worked, and she managed sleeping peacefully... But she only thought he was sleeping. He was wide awake... and afraid of getting murdered if she noticed). Later Asuka realized he had trouble sleeping, and decided repaying the favor: she ordered him moving over, lay down on his bed and she slept with him.
• Cordon Bleugh Chef: When Misato declares that she’ll cook him a huge welcome home meal, Shinji is not thrilled at the prospect of trying her "meals" again given her penchant for mixing foodstuff which was not meant to be mixed.
  "Oh... great" Shinji managed to get out before swallowing. Oh God in heaven, not again, I can't go through that… food… again…
• Costume Porn: Many of the fancier outfits in the story are described in loving, copious detail.
• Curb-Stomp Battle: Shinji and Asuka against Israfel. In this timeline they managed to fight coordinately from the start, and they stomped all over it without need of a rematch.

D-F

• Deadpan Snarker: Because of his former life and his new confident attitude, Shinji has developed a very sarcastic, caustic sense of humor.
  • After seeing his father's huge—and nearly completely empty—office:
    Shinji: I’m guessing you’ve never heard of Ikea.
• Dead Fic: The lack of updates in two years suggested it had become this, but the author assured readers he was still working on it. In 2011 he posted new material to prove it. And then, all of a sudden there was a full chapter update mid-2013. It seemed to be an Averted Trope, but it hasn't updated since then as of February 2018, so it is most likely dead for good.
• Defrosting Ice Queen: A very important piece of the "saving the world and those I care for" Shinji's scheme after returning to the past involves to get closer to Asuka and seduce her. It is progressing nicely so far, and Asuka feels more and more drawn to him.
• Defusing the Tyke-Bomb: One of the main goals of Shinji is undoing the damaged inflicted upon Rei and Asuka’s psyches by NERV. So he spends a long while showing Rei that she’s an individual unique and proving Asuka that piloting Eva isn’t everything that she has.
• Destructive Saviour: After Shinji destroys half of the city in his first simulated exercise, Misato nicknamed him "Godzilla".
• Determinator: Shinji is sick of running away. Now he’s got a second chance, he’s determined to never giving up or quit.
• Determined Defeatist: Often Shinji wonders if he has some chance to outthink people who have spent a long time plotting the extinction of mankind. He’s determined to try to stop them, not matter what.
• Devoted to You: Shinji is desired by all his female classmates… and he doesn’t care for their adoration, affection or obsession at all. He only has eyes for Asuka.
  Even if he wasn't irreparably in love with Asuka, the thought of being a prized possession to be shown off like a piece of jewelry wasn't exactly appealing.
• Disappeared Dad: When Shinji met Gendo he called him out on abandoning him ten years ago, and declared that he wasn’t interested in talking to him again.
  Gendo: It's been a while.
  Shinji: It would have been far longer, if not for the fact that your brother convinced me to give you one last chance. So far, you are failing miserably if you intended this to be any kind of happy family reunion.
• Don't Make Me Destroy You: In chapter 9 Asuka quotes the trope verbatim after Shinji gets on her nerves:
  Asuka:Third Child [...] Come with me.
  Shinji *to Misato*: You have no idea how long I've waited to hear her say that...
  Asuka: Don't make me destroy you.
• Driven to Suicide: Mentioned, but not really invoked. After Shinji reveals his whole story to him, Kaji wonders how the kid has kept himself from "eating the gun", so to speak.
• Double Entendre: In chapter 5 Shinji has some fun at the expense of his beleaguered guardian.
  Ritsuko: You're three for three Shinji; you really have some nice moves, you know.
  Shinji: *jerking his head towards Misato* Yeah that's what she said last night.
  Misato: *after spitting her coffee* What the hell is THAT supposed to mean?
  Shinji: *nonchalantly* You know, when we were playing that video game last night?
• Drives Like Crazy:
  • Shinji is fairly convinced Misato learned her insane style of driving from Kaji. At one point Shinji suspects he actually broke a few laws of causality while parking.
    Kaji was silent mostly because he was dodging traffic at absurd speeds and violating just about every law on the books doing it.
    They made it to Misato’s apartment in record time again, screeching to a halt in a backward power slid into a parking space that violated at least two laws of physics and, Shinji thought, at least one of causality, but didn’t appear to implode the universe.
  • Possibly in reference to Nobody Dies, during a quad bike race between the three pilots Rei used a car transporter as a ramp to jump onto a bridge ahead of Asuka and Shinji. Both promptly stop to stare after her in shock.
• Dude, She's Like in a Coma: Often Shinji remembers what he did when he saw Asuka naked in the hospital (masturbating), and he disgustedly wonders what he was thinking.
• Eating the Eye Candy: While Asuka is complaining to Misato about not being allowed to go to Okinawa, Shinji is trying to stop staring at Asuka's very nice top and very tight shorts in order to take part in the conversation.
  "Actually," he called out into the living room, tossing the hand towel onto the bench as stepped out of the kitchen, "I wouldn’t mind staying if Asuka went." Walking into the living room, he paused to swipe a can of iced tea and walked up next to a disbelieving Asuka - who was looking rather nice in a loose singlet top and very short shorts that left little to the imagination -
  Focus Shinji, focus he told himself as he dragged his attention back to Misato.
• Eldritch Abomination: Lilith—an ancient alien goddess is the source of Earth life—and the Angels—powerful alien beings- that Shinji has to fight again... and who seem more powerful than they were in the original timeline.
• Emotionless Girl: Rei is unemotional and passive at the beginning, but she slowly starts opening up after meeting Shinji. However she decides to hide her changes from Gendo and SEELE out of a growing sense of self-preservation.
• Enemy Mine: Neither Gendo nor SEELE can stand each other but they're working together until all Angels are defeated.
  Their investigations had uncovered that there was some kind of friction between SEELE and their point man at Central. As far as Kaji had understood and explained it, the goals of SEELE and Gendo meshed well until some undetermined point in the future, at which point… things would probably happen.
  Both sides pretended it wasn't the case, but both sides knew the truth and were constantly maneuvering for position even as they worked together closely on what they needed to cooperate on.
• Evil Cannot Comprehend Good: Trying to find a way to bring Shinji under SEELE's control, his grandfather tried to talk him into living with him. Shinji turned down his grandfather's offer because he also abandoned him... and the elder Ikari didn't understand why Shinji had a trouble with that.
  "Three thousand, five hundred and forty nine"
  At least Keel and his Grandfather had the decency to glance at each other in confusion for a second, before turning back to face him.
  "I'm sorry Shinji? I don't understand-"
  "Three thousand, five hundred and forty nine" he repeated, biting off each word with a knife like edge as he stared across the table at the uncomprehending men. "It's the number of days since my Father sent me off to live with my uncle. It also happens to be the number of days since anyone from the rest of my extended family bothered to so much as acknowledge that I even existed."
  The look on his Grandfather's face more than anything else dragged Shinji back from the edge. He appeared utterly confused at his response, befuddled even, and it suddenly hit Shinji that they simply didn't understand.
• Expendable Clone: Since she was a little child, Gendo taught Rei that she was replaceable. Shinji worked hard to disabuse her of it, arguing that, even if another Rei showed up, that new Rei would not be exactly and fully identical to the old one. He succeeded, but Rei pretended that she still saw herself as a mere, expendable clone so that Gendo did not replace her.
  This is what had been to be Rei Ayanami.
  You were a clone, a disposable thing created to fulfill a single purpose by Commander Ikari.
  There was no question about this. Despite his somewhat impulsive actions to save her from the disaster when Unit Zero had been activated for the first time, he had not hesitated in ordering her to 'do it again' while crippled and in great pain when the Third Angel had shown up. No matter what affection he may or may not have for her, it was clear that ultimately she was replaceable.
• Expository Hairstyle Change: Asuka stopped wearing her neural hair clips, opting for tying her hair off into a ponytail, because Shinji said that she looked stunning, and she realized that she didn't need to wear her neural connectors to be Asuka Langley Sohryu.
• Falling into the Cockpit: Subverted. When Shinji gets into his giant robot, Gendo and everyone else believe he is piloting EVA for first time, with no previous knowledge or training. He is not, due to time-travel, but it is in his best interest making everyone believing that he has never met an Evangelion, and he successfully deceives them.
• Fan Art: A fan drew a picture of Asuka in the dress she wore when she attended the school dance.
• Female Gaze: Several scenes focus on Asuka ogling to Shinji.
  Oh come on Asuka... we both know how you kept glancing at him yesterday during training, with him in that tight fitting dance getup as he built up a sweat-
• Fiery Redhead: Asuka is quite the impetuous and strong-willed spitfire, although Shinji's influence is subtly helping her to control and channel her temper.
• Fix Fic: The whole history consists in Shinji trying to fix the monumental mess that the original timeline was.
• Forgiveness: Even if no one else knows what he did in the original timeline, Shinji wants to earn everybody's forgiveness for his actions, so he is fighting hard to save the world this time.
• Forgotten First Meeting: In chapter 9 a technichian told Shinji that Asuka and he already met when they were toddlers (something both of them had utterly forgotten about). Kyoko was visiting the Japanese Branch, and she and Yui left their kids in a play pen, and they... well, they fought. Shinji got a good laugh of it (thinking that some things never change), and so Asuka did when he told her.
• Freudian Excuse: Chihiro Tanaka's aggressiveness, vindictiveness and rude behaviour is later explained as the result of growing up without a mother.
• Freudian Slip: Asuka slips in chapter 17:
  "This whole thing... this whole mess... Keel and his merry men were pushing me about Shinji. Wanted to know how I felt about him, what I thought about him. They were asking me more about him than about me - really pushing it. I mean Misato, I don't even know what I feel about Shinji - if anything" she hastened to add.

G-I

• Gamer Chick: Kana, to the point where she plays the games upside down to challenge herself.
• Gender Flip: In canon, Asuka called Shinji, Touji and Kensuke "The Three Stooges". In this story, Asuka, Hikari and Rei are called -very privately and very, very quietly by the abovementioned trio- "The Three Stoogettes".
• Giant Equals Invincible: After Shinji got fed up with an admiral dissing the Evangelions, Shinji narrates his first engagement and points out that the Humongous Mecha is the only thing can damage an Angel because conventional weaponry is useless.
  ''“Well Sir, I have, so has the First Child and I’m sure very shortly, so too will have the Second [...] In my first engagement, I went up against an Angel that chewed through a Tank Battalion in four minutes flat, destroyed three dozen aircraft and took more firepower then this entire battle group could dish out, right up to the use of Strategic scale N2 weapons. The UN and JSSDF threw everything they had at it and barely slowed it down at the cost of over a thousand lives and half a billion US dollars. [...] With the greatest of respect, Sir, [...] the twin of that toy you are transporting took out that Angel in sixty three seconds, with no civilian casualties, no military casualties and minimal collateral damage to the city it was fighting in.”
• Gratuitous German: Preparing for Asuka's arrival, Shinji learnt some few German words. In chapter 10 both teenagers exchange some sentences in German:
  Asuka:: “Hullo Shinji! Guten Morgen!”
  Shinji: “Guten Morgen Asuka. Wie Geht Es Ihnen?”
  Asuka: “Wundervoll! Ich wußte nicht, daß Sie Deutsches sprachen Shinji?”
  Shinji: “Uh, actually, I don’t speak German. I just learned a few words here and there after I heard you were coming over”.
• Gratuitous Japanese: Asuka calls Shinji baka very often.
• Grave-Marking Scene: In chapter 4 Shinji wakes up after his battle against Sachiel and he goes to the graveyard to visit his mother's grave and talk to her, even though he knows her body is not buried there and her soul is somewhere else.
• Green and Mean: Sachiel, the third Angel, is green-skinned.
  Its 'skin' was a verdant green, covering its dangling arms and long legs, punctuated by white, bony looking structures over its shoulders and along its flanks, offset by a huge red sphere embedded in its chest.
• Green-Eyed Epiphany: Shinji's memories he got during Instrumentality show Asuka was jealous after seeing him talking to Rei because she thought she had lost something she only just realized she wanted.
• Green-Eyed Monster:
  • When several girls were swooning at the thought of asking Shinji out, Rei –Rei!- was feeling quite annoyed. Then she greeted him and he greeted back, beaming at her. Her classmates fumed but she felt very pleased with herself.
  • Shinji’s female classmates were not happy when Asuka came along and Shinji showed that he was interested in her. Asuka’s male classmates were not happy when Asuka showed that Shinji was the only boy she deemed to be deserving of her attention.
  • During the school dance, a girl suggested that she’d try anything with Shinji. Asuka warned her away rather… pointedly.
• Grew a Spine: The premise of this story is Shinji returning to the past with a steel rod inserted into his back to manage to make up for his complete lack of a spine in the original series, and thus saving the world.
• Ground-Shattering Landing: When they sortied to fight Israfel Shinji and Asuka were transported in aircarrier aircrafts and then dropped on the battlefield. Their Humongous Mechas crashed down on the ground, fracturing it noisily (although they suffered no harm).
• Guile Hero:
  • Played straight with Kaji, who is spying on and for three different organizations at once.
  • Subverted with Shinji. After a meeting with SEELE goes awry, Kaji warns Shinji that he must not try to outthink and outplan the Committee because he is not trained for it.
• Hard Work Hardly Works: One reason Asuka is so frustrated with Shinji is because his synch rate is higher even though he's been training for much less time than she has. Of course, Shinji has a couple advantages (being a time traveler and knowing some things he shouldn't) over her.
• Hauled Before a Senate Subcommittee: After Shinji and Asuka engaged the Sixth Angel and that battle resulted in the loss of thousands of lives and the sinking of dozens of warships, one of the members of Seele was dragged before the US Senate on no fewer than four occasions to answer some heated questions.
• Headphones Equal Isolation: In the original timeline, Shinji secluded himself in his room and put his headphones on to isolate whenever he got depressed. Back in the past, he realizes that behaviour was a self-destructive and dumb waste of time, so he is trying to quit the habit (and he is listening to a different kind of music, too).
• Head-Turning Beauty:
  • Asuka had a pack of male students following her around in the school grounds.
  Asuka followed his gaze, smiled, then happily skipped off towards Rei, causing Shinji to shake his head slightly in amusement as 'the hoard' followed her off, more then a few shooting him envious looks.
  • Touji and Kensuke had to admit that it was easy to understand why she drew so many lovestruck or merely lustful stares:
    Both young men freely admitted she was hot, that simply wasn't in question. In a school of generally polite, reserved young Japanese girls, she was a living, breathing firestorm, an impression helped along by her red hair that whirled around her like a burning halo as she moved about the school at speed. Add to that her stunning looks and the fact that she publicly had announced –and Shinji had confirmed- that she was an Evangelion pilot...
• Heartbroken Badass: Shinji doesn’t show it outwardly, but he’s traumatized because he let his life’s love die.
• Heroic BSoD: Shinji nearly has a mental breakdown in chapter 13 when he's recounting his story to Kaji and a JDF intelligence officer; they have to slip him a mild sedative to calm him down.
• High-School Sweethearts: Shinji and Asuka were fourteen and thirteen respectively when they met. They liked each other but Shinji never saw it until it was too late. After returning to the past he is trying to make things right this time and hook up with the only girl he has ever loved.
• Hope Is Scary: Thanks to Shinji, Asuka is considering that, for first time in one decade, maybe she has met someone she can trust, open up to, and rely on. She thinks maybe she does not need to push Shinji away, and she can lower her walls around him... and the thought scares her more than any Angel.
• Hopeless Suitor: Chihiro and most of Shinji's female classmates chase after him. However Shinji only has eyes for Asuka. Several times he says he will never consider to date any of them.
• Hot-Blooded: Asuka's fierce and courageous temper was one of the things Shinji first noticed about her and loved.
• Hot Springs Episode: After fighting Sandalphon in episode 17, the cast spends the rest of the day at a hot springs resort. During that time, Misato apologizes to Asuka for risking her life during the battle, and opens up to her about her parent issues.
• House Husband: Shinji makes all domestic chores since Misato is a slob and Asuka doesn't care as long as she doesn't have to do them.
  "Well I have to say, having a house broken male around is a more useful thing then I gave Misato credit for"
• Humanoid Abomination: Lilith’s ghost naturally looked like Rei.
• Humongous Mecha: The Evangelions. Neither politicians nor army men relish the idea of relying on giant robots to fight, but Shinji quickly proves that they are the best weapon to battle the giant aliens.
• Icy Blue Eyes: Asuka’s deep, blue eyes and she may be pretty cold or hostile to other people.
• I Didn't Mean to Turn You On: Asuka does this to Shinji the whole time.
  • When they met for first time –again-, Shinji was trying not to think about stroking her hair while he talked to her.
  • When Asuka was arguing with Misato, Shinji was trying to pay attention to the conversation rather her very nice, tight shorts.
• I Know You Know I Know: Gendo and SEELE's final goals come into conflict with one another. Both sides know that, Gendo knows SEELE knows his real goals, and SEELE knows Gendo knows they know he's liable to betray them in the future.
  Their investigations had uncovered that there was some kind of friction between SEELE and their point man at Central. As far as Kaji had understood and explained it, the goals of SEELE and Gendo meshed well until some undetermined point in the future, at which point… things would probably happen.
  Both sides pretended it wasn't the case, but both sides knew the truth and were constantly maneuvering for position even as they worked together closely on what they needed to cooperate on.
• The "I Love You" Stigma: When Asuka asked him bluntly what she was to him, Shinji avoided to tell he loved her because he was afraid of scaring her away. So he settled for telling she meant a lot to him.
• I Miss Mom:
  • During their argument in the Eva cages, Shinji said his father he has not forgotten that robot was the thing that swallowed his mother. He constantly misses Yui, and when a co-worker told him several things he remembered about her, Shinji was deeply grateful for those memories.
  • Later Asuka asks Shinji if his mother still shelters him. When Shinji replies his mother is dead Asuka feels horrible because she misses her late mother badly and realizes Shinji must feel the same thing.
• I Need a Freaking Drink: Shinji, on a whim, reveals the whole bit about "I'm a time traveler who's trying to change the past to atone for my mistakes"... to Pen-Pen the penguin. The bird's response?
  (PenPen) stared at his back for several long, long seconds before continuing into the kitchen, retrieving a can from Misato's stash, stopping in consideration, retrieving a second, and retreating into his fridge.
  "Yeah" Shinji muttered as he stacked the plates in the dishwasher. "That's about what I thought you'd say".
  • Played straight with Kaji, who admits he needed several hours of hard drinking after getting proof of Shinji's claims of time-travel.
• Inferiority Superiority Complex: Shinji did not care -too much- for Asuka's gloating because he knew that piloting Eva was all she thought she had. He knew that her pride was the only thing holding her together and he did not want to see her to fall apart again.
• Inner Monologue: In chapter 11, Asuka tries to convince herself that she doesn't find Shinji Ikari attractive.
  Asuka didn't know what had infuriated her more at that point. Misato's not so subtle hint that Shinji made a far more reliable roommate then she had… or the implication that she would be making advances on him!
  Oh come on Asuka… we both know how you kept glancing at him yesterday during training, with him in that tight fitting dance getup as he built up a sweat-
  Asuka silenced the traitorous voice with the mental equivalent of a roundhouse kick before stepping into her room and swiftly getting changed into her 'going out to be seen in a socially acceptable venue' clothes.
• Innocent Blue Eyes: Shinji has blue eyes and he used to be innocent and gulible.
• Insecure Love Interest: Deconstructed. Shinji thinks he isn’t good enough for Asuka after he missed all of her hints, never helped her and let her die. However, Kaji warned him that attitude would hurt Asuka rather helping her.
• Ironic Echo: Asuka to Shinji: "You're not the type of person who just sits around, moping in your bedroom for hours on end."
• Irony: In chapter 10, Shinji finds ironic that Touji and Kensuke cannot stand Asuka and mock her fanclub… when they’ll spend more time with her than any of her fans.
  The irony that those two will end up spending more time with Asuka then any of her rapidly growing fan club… now that’s the textbook definition of irony
• It Has Only Just Begun: After Shinji has destroyed Sachiel, Misato reassures him that it is over. Meanwhile Shinji thinks this is only the beginning.
  “Its okay” Misato assured him over the comlink. “We’ll have you out of there in a couple of minutes…Shinji, Shinji you did great out there, its all over”.
  No Misato Shinji thought as he leaned back to rest in his command chair, closing his eyes as he listened to the soothing hum of the entry plugs life support systems.
  This has just begun.
  It probably would have worried him to know his Father was thinking much the same of the Captain’s statement as he gave the main screen a smirk, before turning and walking out of the command center.
• It's Personal: In chapter 17, Misato risked Asuka’s life during a mission. Later on, she apologized and explained Asuka that she’s obsessed with destroying the Angels because her father died during Second Impact, and she wants to avenge him.
• I "Uh" You, Too: During a school dance Asuka asks Shinji straightforwardly what is she to him. Shinji does not want to tell plainly he loves her because he is frightened of scaring her away, so he resorts to tell "You... mean a lot to me" and other euphemisms.

J-L

• Just Before the End:
  • Shinji is aware that the world will end within half year unless he does something.
  • SEELE and Gendo are not concerned with some Government agency finding out something in the long term or paying NERV’s debt because if they fulfilled their plans, they’d never have to answer for anything since humanity would have no future.
• Just Friends: During a school dance, Natsuki asks Asuka if Shinji and she are together. Asuka replies that they're just friends. However, when Natsuki hints that she wants to get him all for herself, Asuka warns her away rather... pointedly.
• Kid Hero: Deconstructed. Shinji and his two teammates are fourteen-year-old mecha pilots. Shinji is NOT happy about it, and he often states that they're nothing but child soldiers.
  Shinji: With the greatest of respect, Sir, the twin of that toy you are transporting took out that Angel in sixty three seconds, with no civilian casualties, no military casualties and minimal collateral damage to the city it was fighting in. Us ‘kids’ have to pilot these things because there isn’t anyone else who can. While our classmates at school are worrying about who they’ll invite to the dance, we are wondering if tomorrow we’ll die as we’re ripped to pieces by something nuclear weapons barely slow down, knowing if we fail, out entire race is going to die. So, respectfully, I’d ask you to show some fucking respect.
• The Kid with the Remote Control: Invoked when Kaji talks to Ritsuko and states that Shinji, Asuka and Rei are -sadly- the only ones able to pilot an Evangelion in spite of being only fourteen.
• Knight in Sour Armor: Poor Shinji. It isn't that he doesn't want to help, it's that he feels extremely morally obligated to help. He doesn't want to be a Humongous Mecha pilot... but in the original timeline everything went to Hell, everyone died and he lost his loved ones because he ran away from his duty. So he's determined to pilot Eva -even though he hates it- and save the world.
• Lady in Red: Asuka wears a very "adult" red dress to the school dance, one that takes Shinji's breath away.
• Last Girl Wins: Asuka was the last relevant character Shinji met in the original timeline, and he fell for her. In the reset timeline she is also the last girl he meets, and he wants to hook up with her.
• Latex Space Suit: The three pilots wear skintight plugsuits. In a scene, Shinji comments that they keep his body perfectly dry, but he always gets his face and hair filthy since his plugsuit lacks a helmet.
  At last able to get up and out as the plug split open, Shinji gratefully accepted a thick towel from an orange suited technician waiting on the catwalk, vigorously working to clean his hair of the coppery tasting amber fluid. The skin and airtight plug suit kept most of his body perfectly dry while piloting Eva, but he always had to work to get the last little trace of the LCL out of his face and hair every time he left the unit, accepting it but not liking the necessity of ‘breathing’ it in.
• Leeroy Jenkins: In her second battle, Asuka carelessly charges head-on, ignoring Shinji's warnings. Thank Shinji she avoided getting her butt handed to her, but she still acknowledged and cursed her own recklessness.
• Leg Focus: In chapter 9, when a gust of wind billows Asuka's dress, Shinji notes that her legs are utterly gorgeous.
  Because right now, despite knowing what was about to happen, despite being aware of the consequences… he found himself unable to look away as a gust of wind pushed across the flight deck, billowing Asuka's dress at her waist and giving the trio of young men in front of her a splendid view of her utterly gorgeous legs and white, lacey –probably cotton- undergarments-
• Lethal Chef: Shinji has very bad memories of Misato's horrid cooking skills. When she tells hims that he will be staying with her, Shinji is happy... until he remembers it means he will have to eat whatever she "cooks" again, and he gets terrified.
  Misato: “I’ll cook you a huge welcome home meal!”
  Shinji: “Oh…great” (thinking) Oh God in Heaven, not again, I can’t go through that…food…again…
• Let's Get Dangerous!: Shinji's new attitude is due to him being aware of what is at stake and refusing to fail everybody again. Hence, he is more determined and dangerous in battle.
• Lighter and Softer: When he returned to the past, Shinji was determined to set his world right. His -both covert and overt- influence has got good effects so far: Touji's sister did not get crippled when he fought Sachiel, Rei is learning to make friends, Asuka trusts and respects her teammates more than in canon... Nonetheless everything can go to Hell again if he is not careful, and Shinji is well aware of it.
• Line-of-Sight Alias: Invoked. The director of JDA intelligence chooses codenames based on nearby items, in order to make his agents harder to find.
• Little Black Dress: Misato chooses a very daring one of these as her "reward" outfit for taking Asuka shopping. She wears it to the school dance, drawing a lot of attention from the male students.
• Love Hurts:
  • Shinji fell in love with Asuka. When he saw that she had gotten killed by the MP-Evas it shattered his sanity to pieces. Even though he returned to the past to Set Right What Once Went Wrong it haunts him knowing he did nothing as she was getting chopped into pieces and eaten alive.
  • After meeting Shinji Asuka starts to connect with him deeply, and it scares her because she is afraid that she will get hurt if she falls in love with him.
• Love Interest:
  • Shinji and Asuka are each other's.
  • Touji and Hikari.
  • Rei and Kensuke.
• Lovely Angels: An involuntary but welcome consequence of Shinji meddling with the timeline was Asuka and Rei becoming friends and a better fighting team. As Shinji thought: "And woe to the enemies of humanity if this fragile new friendship grew into the simultaneously awesome and terrible weapon it could become..."

M-O

• Manipulative Bastard:
  • Koga Hayashi, the JSSDF's top Interrogator; known as "The Warlock" behind his back. However, he's arguably one of the good guys.
  • Shinji's grandfather. SEELE wanted to keep Shinji on a short leash, so he pretended that he was sorry for neglecting his grandson and said he wanted to take him in and talk about his mother. Unfortunately for him, Shinji saw it coming and turned him down.
• Mama Bear: When Shinji and Asuka were fighting Gaghiel Shinji could not focus properly. Then he tried reaching out for Asuka's mother, screaming mentally her daughter would die if she didn't help them. Kyoko reacted so furiously the backlash knocked Shinji out, as Unit-02 easily forced Gaghiel's jaws open. Asuka reached a 100% synchronization with her EVA right then. Misato is also fiercely protective of Shinji and Asuka (Kaji notes that she was perfectly willing to kill to protect Shinji.)
• Marshmallow Hell: Shinji gets one from Misato in episode 4. She nearly accidentally suffocates him to death, but he did not really mind.
• Masculine Girl, Feminine Boy: Although Shinji is less wimpy and Asuka less aggressive, he’s still quiet and calm and likes cooking; and she’s still fierce and boisterous and loves fighting.
• The Matchmaker:
  • Shinji -helped by Toji's little sister- played matchmaker for Touji and Hikari, and tried to set Rei up with Kensuke.
    Hikari's campaign against Toji had continued; the two slowly but steadily becoming increasingly at ease in each others company though surprisingly, it had been Toji's younger sister Kana who was doing most of the work.
    Clearly she was able to see where things were going, approved of it and had decided to step in and carefully nudge the two along with a skill and ease that stunned Shinji. Well either that or she was sick to death of nearly starving every day at lunch time.
    And she was good. He had seen Kana manipulate Hikari into walking 'her' home, before stealthfully moving off ahead and leaving Hikari to walk Toji home together instead. She had once had both of them mysteriously take her to the shops to buy things she never actually brought under the justification of taking Hikari for fashion advice and her brother to 'escort' her, then again just vanished to leave them both standing around together with only each other for company, the two slowly opening up…
  • Kaji gave Shinji tips to interact with Asuka and win her over. Thanks to his help, Shinji managed to take her to the school dance.
• Meaningful Name: Averted. We get to see things from the JSSDF's POV this time around, and the Code Names they use are deliberately meaningless; the guy actually responsible for the designations tends to name them after random, everyday things that happen to be nearby. Example: Operation "Wallpaper" is the name for their highly classified ongoing investigation into SEELE and NERV, while their highest ranking source is known as Agent "Balcony".
• Mecha Show
• The Men in Black: The NERV's special agents. Shinji mentions them when he goes to talk Fuyutsuki in chapter 9. They are seen in chapters 11, 12 and 13 when several Section-2 bodyguards have to follow Asuka, Rei, Hikari and Misato around and carrying their purchases while they go shopping.
• Mental Time Travel: When Shinji decides in Third Impact to 'go back', Lilith takes a different idea of what 'go back' means. She inserts a steel rod into his back to make up for his complete lack of a spine, then sends him back into the past. shinji wakes up in his fourteen-years-old body, staring at the payphone he was trying to use right when Sachiel attacked at the beginning of the series.
• Mildly Military: This is actually a plot point. Shinji feels he is not integrated with the remaining NERV workers because they are professional and business-like whereas he is too informal and must come across as a little boy playing war games and then going home. So that he requests for the pilots wearing his own NERV uniforms.
• Mind Screw: A lot of things Pen-Pen the penguin does tend to boggle the mind; Misato has somehow turned the bird into an alcoholic and he apparently reads the Wall Street Journal every morning to check stock rates. When a package gets delivered to the Katsuragi household while Shinji is at school, he decides not to look into how Pen-Pen signed for it because he suspects the truth would destroy his mind.
• Missing Mom: Shinji and Asuka’s mothers died when they were barely four. Shinji now knows where her mother is, though, but Asuka is still unaware.
• Mistreatment-Induced Betrayal: Shinji was abandoned by his father when he was four and summoned ten years later because his father needed him to pilot a Humongous Mecha and fight alien monsters. Due to the machinations of his father during the Angel war Shinji got hurt physically and emotionally, and saw his life's love, his sister, his surrogate mother and his friends suffering and dying until he crumbled down and let the world dying. Then he got a second chance, and he revealed the secrets of Nerv to Kaji as soon as he met him.
• The Mole: Shinji. He reveals the truth to Kaji, hoping the older man and spy will help him to avert the Third Impact. In turn, Kaji gets him in contact with the Military, and he (Shinji) becomes their best source of info on the activities and goals of NERV and SEELE. He even gets a code-name: Balcony.
• Motherly Scientist: Subverted. To Misato’s face, Ritsuko pretends to care about Rei. In reality, she loathes her. In turn, Shinji despises her for treating him and his fellow pilots with indifference and scorn.
• My God, What Have I Done?: After going back to the beginning of the War, Shinji has this reaction when he realizes Asuka, Rei, Misato and his friends suffered and died because he abandoned them and betrayed their trust when they needed him, and all humans died because he chose so.
  The heart of the person… of the woman he could finally admit to himself he might well have fallen in love with.
  And then abandoned to die at the hands of SEELE.
• My Parents Are Dead: In episode 9, Shinji and Asuka talk about their first meeting when they were little kids and Asuka asks if he’ll hide behind his mom again. Shinji replies that his mother is dead, and Asuka feels horrible about herself because she’s an orphan, too.
  Asuka: So, Baka; are you going to run and hide behind mummy again with me here?
  Shinji: My Mother is dead Asuka. She died when I was Four in an… incident, with Unit One.
  Asuka: I'm… I'm sorry.
• Nice Guy: Asuka, Misato, Hikari… wonder because Shinji is so nice, selfless and obsessed with making everyone happy.
• Nice to the Waiter:
  • Shinji makes an effort to be polite to the workers and staff at NERV, partly because of his atoner complex.
  • Original Character Hama Tanaka mentions that Yui always had time for the "little people".
• Nightmare Sequence: Shinji suffered nightmares where he revived the battle against Sandalphon, except that he missed when he tried to rescue Asuka, and she sank, begging to save her.
• No Endor Holocaust: Averted. The author doesn't shy away of showing how much people perish in the battles and how much collateral and property damage they cause.
• No-Holds-Barred Beatdown: Shinji's return match against Sachiel. After ultimately deciding against waiting for Unit-01 to go berserk on its own, he takes advantage of his previous synch ratio and combat experience to literaly tear the Angel down, leaving it almost no chance to retaliate. He even manages to contain the blast caused by its self-destruction with his AT-Field, and acts confused after the fight to pass his combat prowess off as Unit-01's awakening.
• Non-Action Big Bad: Gendo and SEELE are good working in the shadows, plotting, scheming and moving their minions like chess pieces, but neither of them is a physical menace.
• Noodle Incident:
  • The Jet Alone mess? It is just mentioned in passing.
  • After Shinji turned Chihiro down, some students spread rumors of he was gay. However, thanks to Toji and Hikari, after a very embarassing morning, almost nobody believed those rumors. Shinji did not specify what happened in that morning.
  • Fuyutsuki does not know how the UN managed to get a frigate down in the Geofront, but doesn't make any inquiries into the matter as he reasons it's a good test of his self control... and it probably wouldn't beat the story of the motorboat in Terminal Dogma anyways.
• No Sense of Personal Space: When Asuka met Shinji she immediately and aggressively stepped into his personal space to study him. During their posterior interactions she tended to get extremely close to Shinji.
• No Social Skills: Shinji grows a spine and some few social skills before returning to the past. His attitude utterly befuddles his father, since Gendo expected him being meeker and more pliable. However Shinji keeps being bad with people and a bit introvert. It comes up several times, such like Shinji realizing -too late- he might have given several female classmates hints he was interested in them, or blurting out to Hikari that he knows she likes Touji.
• Not What It Looks Like: In a chapter, Misato caughts Asuka leaving Shinjis' room at the morning. Asuka has to explain that is not what it looks like, she had been not acting untoward towards Shinji and had a good reason for she sleeping in his room. And in his bed. With him in said bed, at the same time. The reason beuing he had nightmares and she was triyng comforting him.
• Obfuscating Stupidity: Shinji goes out of his way to act completely inept in his first combat simulation (and does such a good job of it that the staff nicknamed him "Godzilla''), then asks for a week of training combat training so he can have a more believable explanation for his piloting skills.
• Official Couple: Shinji and Asuka.
• Oh, Crap!:
  • Gendo and Ritsuko display horrified expressions when Shinji reveals that he remembers how his mother died.
  • Shinji did this when he realized that one of the changes in the timeline was that the Angels were becoming more powerful and more dangerous than he remembered.
  • Again, Shinji when he realized he had let Keel get a good glimpse of his thoughts.
• Old Flame: Misato and Kaji. Kaji wants to hook up with her again, but Shinji warned him that they DID get back together in the original timeline but his death broke Misato, so Kaji decided to wait until the war was over to flirt with Misato.
• One-Man Army: Fed up with an admiral slighting the Evangelions, Shinji points out that in his first engagement he went up against a monster that obliterated a Tank Battallion and three dozens of aircraft and shrugged nukes off... and he took out that enemy in sixty-three seconds.
  • Shinji also admits freely that Asuka is more badass than him.
• One-Liner: Lampshaded. Shinji notes to himself that one of the best parts of going back in time is "Using all those clever lines you thought up too late."
• Orphan's Ordeal:
  • Shinji makes repeatedly clear that it was very hard growing up without a mother.
  • After Kyoko’s death, Asuka was ditched by her family. She was raised by guardians who didn’t care about her –save two exceptions-, and grew up thinking that she could trust nobody and depend on nobody.
• Out-of-Character Moment: Like many Peggy Sue fics, this comes into play. Several characters have noted that Shinji's current personality does not match up with previous reports on him. Also, Ritsuko became suspicious of Shinji after she noticed the supposedly "Berserk" EVA 01 use a prog knife the same way she had seen Asuka do in a video report even though the two had yet to meet.
• O.O.C. Is Serious Business: In chapter 10, Asuka admits that she had screwed up in front of Rei, and Rei apologized for Asuka. And Shinji, who was staring at shock and whose jaw almost hit the floor, wondered why nobody had informed him that Earth started rotating from West to East overnight.

P-R

• Parental Abandonment: Shinji and Asuka were abandoned by their fathers. Shinji hates his for it, and Asuka doesn’t want anything to do with hers. After a while, Shinji decides that Misato, Asuka, Rei… are his real family and cuts ties with his blood relatives.
  Shinji: Three thousand, five hundred and forty nine. It's the number of days since my Father sent me off to live with my uncle. It also happens to be the number of days since anyone from the rest of my extended family bothered to so much as acknowledge that I even existed.
• Parental Neglect: Defied when SEELE suggests Shinji that he should move with his grandfather because Misato is too busy to take care of Asuka and him properly, and Shinji replies that at the very least she tried, unlike his so-called blood relatives.
• Parental Obliviousness:
  • Even though Shinji acts strangely and knows things he shouldn’t know, Misato doesn’t suspect that he’s a time-traveller.
  • Gendo knows his son isn’t at all what he was expecting, and Ritsuko constantly brings to his attention that Shinji keeps doing things that make no sense, but Gendo keeps thinking it doesn’t merit his attention.
• Parental Substitute:
  • After returning to the past Shinji hopes Misato becomes his guardian again. She does not disappoint. Later he says to the face of SEELE Misato was the only person had looked after him, unlike his so-called biological family.
  • Misato was also Asuka's guardian in Germany. Asuka felt she was the first person since her mother's death had genuinely cared about her. Later, when she nearly died while she was fighting into a volcano, Asuka felt betrayed because Misato seemed more concerned about destroying the enemy than about her safety, but Misato acknowledged she had acted wrongly, explained her actions, apologized and reassured her than she cared about her and Shinji.
• Passive-Aggressive Kombat: Asuka and an Original Character named Natsuki have a brief conversation about Shinji during the school dance. While the dialogue may seem polite, the underlying meaning is anything but. Basically, Natsuki all but threatens to take Shinji for herself, and Asuka responds by subtly insulting her and staking her claim on the Third Child.
• Peggy Sue
• People Jars: Rei spends several scenes floating inside a transparent vat filled with LCL, healing her body or downloading her memories in her clones' brains.
• Person of Mass Destruction: Misato nicknamed Shinji “Godzilla” after he destroyed half city in a simulated battle.
• Pervert Revenge Mode: In chapter 9, Asuka went into this when Shinji, Touji and Kensuke saw her panties and in retaliation she slapped them. It must be noted that Shinji knew that a gust of wind was about to billow her dress and giving them a view of her underwear but he was unable to look away.
• Pitbull Dates Puppy: Since Asuka is abrasive, loud and temperamental and Shinji is quiet, calm and non-confrontational, most of their acquaintances consider that they have this kind of relationship. Touji and Kensuke think their “poor” friend Shinji needs to be saved from the “Demon Red”, and Misato doesn’t get how Shinji appears to be utterly, impossibly immune to everything Asuka throws at him in her standard attempts to push him away.
• Please, Don't Leave Me: In the middle of a nightmare, Shinji hears Asuka begging him not to leave her as she sinks into a volcano.
  Please, I don't want to die Shinji! Please don't leave me Shinji! I don't want to die! Help me Shinji! Please, HELP ME! Please…please don't let me die…Shinji…Sh-
• Precision F-Strike: Shinji concludes his rant at the UN fleet's admiral by telling him to "show some fucking respect".
• Properly Paranoid:
  • In chapter 17 Shinji was forced to talk to SEELE. Before that meeting his mind came up with all kind of bad scenarios and disastrous outcomes (including SEELE saying they knew everything before putting a bullet in his head). His paranoia was, of course, justified: Khiel figured out that he was up to something.
  • When she was bathing in the hot springs, Asuka was almost sure that the penguin was eyeing her. Since the aforementioned bird was Pen Pen, she was pretty right.
• Recruit Teenagers with Attitude: Shinji, Asuka and Rei are fourteen. Shinji and Asuka have bad attitude to spare.
• Recursive Fanfiction:
  • The Finale of the Ultimate Meta Mega Crossover contains references to this story and at least other three different fanworks (RE-TAKE, Thousand Shinji and Shinji And Warhammer 40 K).
  • In A Crown of Stars, Once More With Feeling is part of The Multiverse, and several events of this story are mentioned.
  • Chihiro Tanaka shows up in Advice and Trust.
• Red Is Heroic: Asuka is a giant robot pilot and and wears red most of time. When Shinji saw her red mecha he said the color suited her.
• Red Oni, Blue Oni:
  • Asuka and Shinji are like this. Asuka is the Red Oni -temperamental, bold and daring- is the Shinji is the Blue -tranquil and quiet even when he is angry-.
  • Rei -calm, soft-spoken- is also the Blue Oni to Asuka's Red one. Due to Shinji changing the timeline events they unexpectedly become friends, and better teammates (and Rei actually saves Asuka's from dying inside a volcano.
• Reformed, but Rejected: Subverted. When Shinji's grandfather apologises to his grandson for never being there for him and states that he wants to atone for his neglectful actions and take him in, Shinji rejects him... because he knows his grandfather is not sorry and only wants to use him.
• Relationship Upgrade: Per WoG, Shinji and Asuka will get together.
• Retail Therapy: After arriving at Tokyo-3, Asuka often takes Rei and Hikari to shopping to cheer herself and her friends up.
• Ripple-Effect-Proof Memory: Shinji retains his full memories of the original timeline, and due to Instrumentality he also gets other people’s memories of the original events.
• The Mole: On one hand, Shinji is feeding information to the enemy about what the organization he works for he is up to. On the other hand, given WHAT that organization is up to, and what he is trying to avert (including the deaths of those ones he cares for), you would be hard-pressed to call him a bad guy (and if they knew about his motives, it is highly doubtful anybody bar Gendo and SEELE would call him a traitor). He is essentially a good guy pretends to be a bad guy pretending to be a good guy.
• The Rival: Asuka regards Shinji as his rival because he's the higher synch rate and has performed brilliantly in all his engagements.
• Robeast: The Angels.

S-U

• Saying Too Much: When Shinji was interrogated by SEELE, he accidentally slipped how much Misato means to him, and he realized belatedly that he gave SEELE a leverage to manipulate him. Worse still, his body language gave away that he knew who Khiel was, and Khiel noticed.
• Science-Fiction Fanfic: Here you find Time Travel, Humongous Mecha, alien invaders, Eldritch Abominations...
• Secret-Keeper: Kaji is the only major character who knows that Shinji's already been through all this.
• Set Right What Once Went Wrong: Lilith misunderstands Shinji when he says he wants to go back, and she sends him back in time. Shinji gets shocked but he decides that he will use that chance nevertheless to atone for everything that he did and did not]. He is so determined to win the Angel War, protect his surrogate family and make amends that his behaviour gets Misato puzzled, since she does not understand why he goes out of his way to help everyone and make them happy (and he cannot tell her he feels guilty for leaving her, Asuka and Rei dying and obliterating the whole humankind).
• She Cleans Up Nicely: In episode 15 Asuka, Rei and Hikari got ready to attend she school dance. When they arrived at the place the dance was held, everyone -including their dates- stared at them open-mouthed. Hikari especially drew many stares of people could not believe how beautiful the usually plain-looking class representative looked.
• She Is Not My Girlfriend: A girl asks Asuka if Shinji is her boyfriend. Asuka claims they are Just Friends, and the girl hints maybe she will take him all for herself, then. Asuka chewed her head off. Politely, of course.
• Shell-Shocked Veteran: After living through the war and Third Impact Shinji got sent to the beginning of everything. Although he is trying to grow a spine, become a better person and do things right this time, he is heavily traumatized and feeling inmensely guilty for everyone's deaths. Some characters note that he seems older and more tired than a fourteen-years-old should, and Kaji is amazed that Shinji has not tried to kill himself yet.
• Shipper on Deck: Shinji tries hooking up Touji and Hikari. He also tries setting Rei up with Kensuke. Kaji also gives tips to Shinji for winning Asuka over. There also is an interesting inversion: Obviously Shinji is not against Kaji and Misato hooking up, but after he tells Kaji how his death left Misato devastated in the original timeline, Kaji decides to stop flirting with her until the Angels, Gendo and SEELE are defeated and dead.
• Ship Tease: The Shinji/Asuka teasing was plentyful and blatant. Before meeting her for first time -again- Shinji often thinks he will never be able to love someone else, and when he hears about the cancelled school dance, he gets it un-cancelled so that he has a chance to ask Asuka going together. During their first meeting Asuka wonders why Shinji gets under her skin so easily, and later, while Shinji is sleeping in her cockpit, she spends a good while staring at his face.
• Shower of Angst: Asuka takes a shower every day to try to forget her nightly, worsening nightmares.
  All in all, this entire process had become less of a morning shower to her then a morning ritual. Not in the least because she had increasingly needed the hot, soothing water to wash away the dark shades that haunted her sleep… even if she would never admit it to anyone. Least of all herself.
• Sinister Geometry: Ramiel resembles a massive octahedron.
• Sleep Cute: Shinji and Asuka share a bed in chapter 10 and 16. Both of them note that they sleep better when they are together.
• So Proud of You:
  • Subverted. Shinji was overjoyed when his father praised him after stopping Sahaquiel... but after a while he decided that he had clung to his father's praise in a pathetic way.
    Once in his life, he would have leapt at the offer from his Grandfather, in the same pathetic way he had clung to his Father's praise after he had stopped the 10th Angel, letting those three worlds play over and over in his head.
    -("Good work, Shinji...")-
  • Played straight when Misato praised Asuka after the latter fought Sandalphon.
    So don't give a damn about those armchair Generals second guessing you either Asuka. You're a hell of a pilot - today was the toughest battle we've ever been in and you handled yourself incredibly well. Regardless of our motives going into this, you rose to the challenge today. I'm proud of you - and Rei of course.
• Sour Outside, Sad Inside: Although Shinji was not afraid of arguing with Asuka anymore he did his best to not hurt her pride because after going through Instrumentality he knew it a mask and underneath she was a scared little girl thought being a pilot was everything she had.
  Then the Second Child had arrived, bringing with her conflict, friction and more then a few painful contusions to his head as she continually let him know exactly what she thought of him as an Eva Pilot, a man and a human.
  All of it a giant lie to shield the four year old girl desperately hiding deep behind the moats, minefields and electrified fences she had placed around her heart.
• Spit Take: Misato spat her coffee, nearly ruining the equipment around her, when Shinji did a double entendre.
  You're three for three Shinji; you really have some nice moves, you know" Akagi spoke up from behind her glasses, looking down her clipboard as she studied raw columns of numbers that were utter gibberish to anyone but her and her staff...
  "Yeah that's what she said last night" Shinji smiled back with a jerk of his head towards Misato.
  The poor Captain damn near sent the coffee she had been sipping back out over the very expensive equipment around her; an expression of shock and utter stunned amazement crashing onto her face as Shinji's casually offered comment echoed across the room.
• Stating the Simple Solution: After Asuka complains about having to sleep in a futon for the umpteenth time, Shinji suggests she just buy herself a bed, since she has more than enough money to do so.
• The Stations of the Canon: Inevitably due to it being a Peggy Sue fic, it goes throughout the series (Shinji coming Tokyo-3, Misato picking him up, he arguing with his father in the cages...), making gradual changes (for example, he did not run away after the battle against Samshel).
• Stepford Smiler: Shinji may come off as cheerful and easygoing, but in reality he's struggling with massive amounts of guilt, rage, fear, and grief.
• Stress Vomit: In chapter 3 Shinji faces his father, calls him out and demands combat pay in exchange for piloting a giant robot and risking his life. He succeeds, but he was so terrified during the confrontation that after leaving Gendo's office he hurried to the bathroom and spent thirty seconds throwing up.
• Surprise Checkmate: A variation with Go. In episode 15, Gendo and Fuyutsuki play a Go match while they argue recent developments, and Fuyutsuki was completely surprised when Gendo rendered his own victory inevitable. He surrended, knowing that resistance was pointless.
• Survivor Guilt: Shinji is his timeline’s only survivor. He blames himself for being incapable of saving everyone, especially his family. Asuka’s death is his biggest regret, since he did nothing when she was being butchered and eaten alive.
• Take My Hand!:
  • Shinji has several nightmares where Asuka is sinking into a volcano and he jumps into the lava and reach out to grab her hand... but he misses.
  • Later on, Rei manages to grab Asuka's hand when she's falling, and pulls her out of the volcano.
• Talking in Bed: In chapter 16 Asuka noticed Shinji was having nightmares so she slept with him to try to help him to sleep better. Before falling asleep Shinji talked to her about his nightmares and told her he was terribly frightened of let her down or her dying because he was unable to avoid it or too coward to do anything.
• Talking to the Dead: In chapter 4, Shinji visits his mother's grave and talks to her for a long while, telling that he 's scared because he doesn't think he's strong enough to go through everything a second time.
• Talking to Themself: Invoked when Shinji talks to Lilith's ghost. She tells him that she's sort of a memory in his mind, and Shinji thinks "Oh, great, now I'm talking to myself".
  "I'm not really here" she said quickly with a slight smile as the observation passed through his mind. "And no, you are not loosing your grip on reality" she assured him.
  "After everything that's happened, I am not so sure" he replied somewhat sarcastically.
  "Understandable" she nodded. "If it helps, think of me…as an echo of the events, a shadow without form, nothing more then a memory in your mind".
  "Well uh… you're a rather… talkative memory" he replied, then stopped. Oh God, am I talking to myself now he asked in despair…
• Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: Gendo and SEELE work together to destroy the Angels, although they mistrust and hate each other.
  Their investigations had uncovered that there was some kind of friction between SEELE and their point man at Central. As far as Kaji had understood and explained it, the goals of SEELE and Gendo meshed well until some undetermined point in the future, at which point… things would probably happen.
  Both sides pretended it wasn't the case, but both sides knew the truth and were constantly maneuvering for position even as they worked together closely on what they needed to cooperate on.
• Think Unsexy Thoughts: Invoked by Shinji during the fight against Gaghiel. To distract himself from Asuka's chest touching his back, he conjures up the picture of Gendo in a one piece and instantly regrets it.
• Time Travel: Lilith sent Shinji back in time to the beginning of the War.
• Timey-Wimey Ball: Shinji remembers everything that happened in the original timeline, even though a lot of events are significantly different thanks to his actions.
• Tomboyish Ponytail: Asuka wears a ponytail from episode 11 onward. She's loud, brash, hot-blooded, aggressive, loves fighting and isn't at all feminine.
• Took a Level in Badass:
  • Shinji took a level when he returned to the past. Now he knows what the stakes are and what the price of failure is, so he fights seriously and fiercely rather wasting time whining and feeling sorry for himself. And he uses all his experience and knowledge gained in the original timeline. The result is a more dangerous, more focused and more experienced fighter.
  • As shown in his first battle: in the original timeline Sachiel beat him around until his mother went berserker. In the altered timeline he slaughtered Sachiel so quickly and ruthlessly than Gendo and Ritsuko thought Yui had gone berserker.
• Took a Level in Cheerfulness: Shinji is taking great pains to prevent Asuka from breaking down again, making sure that she knows that there are people care about her and value her, and will do so even if she stops being a pilot. The result is she is happier and more upbeat than in the original timeline.
• Took a Level in Idealism: After travelling back in time Shinji learns to not run away and not give up. He uses this newfound wisdom to help Rei and Asuka to be more open and be more optimistic and hopeful.
• Took a Level in Kindness: After returning to the past, Shinji knows exactly why Asuka is rude and and confrontational and what ticks her off, and makes sure to show her that he is there for her and not behave as a wimp who apologises for everything, never stands up and always backs off, to avoid pressing her berserk buttons. As a result, she becomes more sympathetic and nicer. This is especially obvious in several scenes, such as where she admits to Rei she screwed up during a battle or where she says it would be unfair going to Okinawa alone while Shinji and Rei stay in Tokyo-3.
• Tsundere: After meeting Shinji, Asuka starts showing her softer side thanks to his influence. She still has a harsh side that she uses to protect herself, but she is less afraid of making friends or letting herself be vulnerable.
• Tragic Keepsake: Shinji somehow brought Misato's cross-shaped pendant with him to the past (likely Lilith/Rei's doing) as a reminder of his past mistakes. Becomes important later on when it's used to prove his time-travel story to Kaji and the military.
• Tranquil Fury: Asuka slips into this when she sees Rei's atrocious living conditions, and finds out the whole thing was arranged by Gendo.
• Tyke-Bomb: When Shinji met both girls again, Rei was Gendo’s emotionless, mindless pawn and Asuka thought piloting Eva was everything she had. NERV had raised them to be an Apocalypse trigger and cannon fodder respectively.
  Given that her pride in her piloting abilities was, when you got down to it, all that Asuka Langley Sohryu thought she had, Shinji kept his peace. He had seen the nightmare that had happened when her pride was shattered and he had utterly no wish to see that door open ever again…
• Unkempt Beauty: In chapter 11 Asuka wakes up and does not bother with brushing her hair, thinking that Shinji would not notice. However he DID notice... and he thought that she looked really, really stunning.
• Unwitting Pawn: Subverted. NERV’s staff is Gendo’s unwitting pawns, and the UN is SEELE’s one. However, Shinji pretends to be also clueless, but he knows what they’re exactly planning, and he warned the Japanese Government via Kaji.

V-Z

• Vertical Mecha Fins: Par for the course.
• Villainous Friendship: Keel Lorenz and Shinji's grandfather Takuya Ikari seem to have this dynamic. Takuya was the closest thing Keel had to a mentor, and he seems to respect him more than the other high-ranking SEELE members, valuing his input and willing to be completely honest with him. For his part, Takuya is the only person in SEELE who can be casual, even sardonic, with the chairman.
• Wave-Motion Gun: In episode 7 the cast fights Ramiel -an Eldritch Abomination armed with a huge laser blast-, building a gigantic cannon shot a massive particle ray.
• The War Has Just Begun: After Shinji has destroyed Sachiel, Misato reassures him that it is over. Meanwhile Shinji thinks he has merely won the first battle, and this is only the beginning of the war.
  “Its okay” Misato assured him over the comlink. “We’ll have you out of there in a couple of minutes…Shinji, Shinji you did great out there, its all over”.
  No Misato Shinji thought as he leaned back to rest in his command chair, closing his eyes as he listened to the soothing hum of the entry plugs life support systems.
  This has just begun.
  It probably would have worried him to know his Father was thinking much the same of the Captain’s statement as he gave the main screen a smirk, before turning and walking out of the command center.
• "Well Done, Son" Guy: Subverted. Shinji used to crave for his father's attention and praise. Now he thinks that he was an idiot for desiring his father's approval.
• We Used to Be Friends: After finding out the truth about the real goals of NERV and SEELE, Kaji has no choice but treating his old friend Ritsuko like an enemy.
  After all, if Shinji was right, Ritsuko, good ole Rits herself was fully aware of the ultimate goals of the Evangelion project.
  Hell, she was up to her ever so pretty neck in it.
  Meaning he had no choice but to treat her as an enemy. Someone he had known for close to a decade and he thought he knew well…and thought of as a friend.
  It was no easy shift to make in ones thinking, even for him.
• What Happened to the Mouse?: Some fans have wondered what happened to Rei/Lilith after her last chat with Shinji. The author has stated she was barely a memory that has since faded.
• When She Smiles: In chapter 9, Touji notes that Misato’s smiles are dazzling:
  "Uh huh" Misato agreed suddenly, turning one of her dazzling smiles on him. "And its time to real them in" she declared, turning back to the battle before Toji's legs got too shaky from the effects of that awesome smile.
• Will They or Won't They?: Per Word of God, if the story reaches that point, Shinji and Asuka will get together after going past the “bickering and caring phase”.
• Wise Beyond Their Years: After traveling to the past, Shinji looks (naturally) like a teenager. However he mentally and emotionally is rather older. Kaji notes that Shinji often seems an adult rather a kid.
• With Due Respect: In chapter 9 the cast has fown to a carrier to picking Asuka and Unit 02. However the fleet's Admiral is complaining non-stopping about being turned into a cargo service and having to baby-sit a bunch of children. Finally Shinji got fed up with it:
  “With the greatest of respect, Sir” he continued, “the twin of that toy you are transporting took out that Angel in sixty three seconds, with no civilian casualties, no military casualties and minimal collateral damage to the city it was fighting in. Us ‘kids’ have to pilot these things because there isn’t anyone else who can. While our classmates at school are worrying about who they’ll invite to the dance, we are wondering if tomorrow we’ll die as we’re ripped to pieces by something nuclear weapons barely slow down, knowing if we fail, out entire race is going to die. So, respectfully, I’d ask you to show some fucking respect”.
• Worth Living For: As Rei leaps into a volcano to save Asuka, she realizes she has now something worth living and dying for thanks Shinji: her friends.
  All of her life, Commander Ikari had given her a purpose to live for.
  And now, as she plunged towards the Lava to save her friend ... for the first time in her life since she had discovered mortality, Rei Ayanami had found to her surprise that she had something worth dying for.
• Worthy Opponent: Asuka finds both Shinji and Toji to be these when it comes to verbal sparring; Shinji in terms of wit, and Toji in terms of tenacity.
• You Are Better Than You Think You Are: In chapter 17 Asuka confesses that she feels bad because she thinks she has done nothing but look like a bumbling idiot next to Shinji in the eyes of the Committee." Misato told her ignore them:
  Misato: So don't give a damn about those armchair Generals second guessing you either Asuka. You're a hell of a pilot - today was the toughest battle we've ever been in and you handled yourself incredibly well. Regardless of our motives going into this, you rose to the challenge today. I'm proud of you - and Rei of course.
• You're Not My Father: After meeting his grandfather for first time, Shinji tells these words when he finally and intellectually accepts that his so-called blood relatives were never there for him.
  Takuya Ikari: Shinji... I can understand your anger... but I hope you realize, that if you ever need me, as your Grandfather I will be here for you.
  Shinji: I may be your Grandson Mister Ikari ... but you are not my Grandfather. Goodbye.
• You Killed My Father: In chapter 17, Misato explains Asuka that she wants to exterminate the Angels because her father died during the Second Impact.

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"So I'll make you a deal Third Child, [...] If you, at some point in the future, let me down utterly, completely and catastrophically like you think you might, I forgive you in advance for it…providing that you don't mope around like an idiot for the rest of your life but find a way, any way, to make it right, and you don't stop trying until you do. Fair enough?"

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